Psychological resilience in pediatric nurses: a cross-sectional survey

Pediatric nursing is recognized as a highly demanding and stressful profession, often exacerbated by relatively lower remuneration, which can negatively affect nurses' psychological health. While prior research has explored psychological resilience in general nursing populations, limited data specifically address resilience levels and their determinants among pediatric nurses, leaving a critical gap in understanding how to support this specialized cohort. This study aimed to evaluate the psychological resilience of pediatric nurses and identify key influencing factors, providing evidence to inform targeted nurse management strategies.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pediatric nurses at a single tertiary hospital from June 1 to July 31, 2024. Inclusion criteria included full-time employment as a pediatric nurse with ≥1 year of clinical experience; part-time staff and those on temporary leave were excluded. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires, which included a standardized Psychological Resilience Scale (assessing tenacity, strength, and optimism dimensions) and items assessing demographic and occupational characteristics. Potential predictors were selected based on prior literature linking variables such as age, experience, and income to resilience in healthcare settings. Analyses included Pearson correlation to explore bivariate relationships and multiple linear regression to identify independent predictors, with two-sided P<0.05 indicating statistical significance.

A total of 406 pediatric nurses were included, predominantly female (96.06%, n=390) with a mean age of 32.08 years and average work experience of 12.14±5.30 years. Most held a bachelor's degree (55.67%, n=226) and worked as nurse practitioners (48.03%, n=195). The total psychological resilience score was 59.23±10.82 (moderate level), with the highest average dimension score in strength (2.52±0.59), followed by tenacity (2.33±0.47) and optimism (2.31±0.55). Correlation analysis showed positive associations between resilience and age (r=0.570, P=0.01), years of experience (r=0.515, P=0.02), professional title (r=0.607, P=0.009), education level (r=0.563, P=0.04), and monthly income (r=0.625, P=0.004). Multivariate regression confirmed these as independent predictors, accounting for 36.8% of variance (adjusted R²=0.368, F=15.221, P<0.001), with education level (β=0.138, P=0.007) and age (β=0.209, P=0.03) showing notable effect sizes.

Pediatric nurses exhibit intermediate psychological resilience, with higher levels linked to greater age, experience, professional rank, education, and income. These findings highlight opportunities for clinical practice, such as prioritizing professional development programs, optimizing salary structures, and strengthening support for early-career nurses, to enhance resilience-particularly in the relatively lower-scoring optimism dimension-and reduce burnout in this critical workforce.